Colin Lindsay

Same problem as Herald doors - the profile of the currently available rubber seal is quite often wrong, it’s too thick and prevents the hatch from sitting flush. Try Bill at Rarebits for the flap-type seal that he sells for doors, it’s not a tubular-type construction so seals without having to be compressed too much.

I THINK - think - there is a facility for correcting the details on the V5 on change of ownership; it’s been a while since I did this so others can correct as necessary but I think once you purchase the car and go to have it registered in your name you’ll be asked if all the details on the form are correct - by ticking the box ‘NO' and supplying the correct engine number the new form should arrive back with you with the correct engine number now amended.

A small 12v pump fitted inline will work, there are plenty of areas to attach one under the bonnet. You don’t even have to use the original switch position, a small hidden switch down below the dash works very well; you can even place one in a handier position than the original.

Avoid any term that points to racing or fast usage. A stainless manifold is for longevity, not an engine upgrade; better brakes are for safety, not for stopping more quickly from higher speed. Any hint of driving faster than a sedate classic speed and they’ll load your premium.

You have to tighten the cover screws gradually, testing for free dropping all the time. Tighten one gradually, test the drop, tighten another, keep checking for free movement and adjust as necessary until the cover is fully tightened and the piston still drops freely. You probably already know this but I’ve seen owners tighten the cover down fully with no adjustment then try to move the piston afterwards, with predictable results.

It shouldn’t be, as Clive says. Maybe in relation to a modern, servo-assisted car they seem poor, but in their day the brakes were as good as they needed to be. You just have to get used to putting more pressure on the pedal, and much earlier.

I just went to my name on the top right, clicked “My Profile’ and in the menu to the left of the new page, there’s an option for gallery. I created an album and uploaded a photo as a test and it seemed to go ok.

Those look like Spitfire or GT6 wheels; perfectly good if you’re not worried about originality… the original Vitesse wheels for the late MK2 were steel wheels 4.5J wide with Rostyle trims. Similar to the GT6 Mk2 but slight differences?

I think you’re right, it was white / pink or white / red for the radio connection; earth was just strung from the unit to any metal point. Other cars used the spare terminal on the ignition switch; not sure if it carried over into the later ones? Speakers were often just hung under the dashboard within inches of the head unit so no real cabling required. You’ll probably have to route your own, under carpets and well away from any sharp edges where they may get damaged, and as Clive says use a good in-line fuse on the power cable.

Choose the ‘more reply options’ button at the bottom right and at the bottom of that text box you’ll see an option to ‘Attach files’. Select your pic and attach. I don’t use Photobucket for this forum but I think it’s the square box to the bottom left of the smiley icon, the little green tree icon above the text box, that allows you to enter code for a linked photo from a storage site.

Make sure it’s nothing as simple as your fuel pump clicking as it pumps…

I haven’t seen these for sale anywhere; I’d make contact with a dismantler / restorer such as Chic Doig who will either know of a source or else be able to cut one from an unsalvageable donor car.

Can you actually fill the hose with water through the rad cap with the engine cold, i.e. does that hose fill up when the system is topped up? If so, when it’s hot, does it expand out of the overflow? I’d reckon if the system is running well enough then it’s getting enough water to cool properly. Watch your fingers on any rotating / sharp / hot objects and with the engine running squeeze the hose to expel any air. Just a handgrip is enough to get a lot of air out and let water through again. However it’s worth bearing in mind that the hose doesn’t have to be full of water, it just has to have enough to allow water to be pumped into the radiator, so will probably expand out of the system again once it gets hot. If you can see the water pumping with the rad cap removed, it’s working. One point to bear in mind is that when the system is hot and the water has expanded, the system loses it into the expansion bottle; when cold, it’s drawn back in again by vacuum. If your rad cap seal isn’t tight, it won’t return back in. This may be the reason your hose appears empty when cold, but when running at full heat is actually carrying water. Does it get hot when running, and you can feel the hot water running through it? I’d keep an eye on the level, but as long as the temperature is ok when driving, it may just be a case of losing it to expansion without the system refilling when cooling down. A new rad cap seal may help. (Is the cap the correct poundage?)

I think there are only two nuts holding that section of dashboard on (the passenger side triangular bit?) - put your hand up behind after removing the glovebox and you’ll feel the nylon nuts over the threaded mounts which are screwed to the back of the wooden fascia. There is already a hole in the metal backplate, which if you’re lucky will have shaded / coloured the backing of the dash after all these years so will show you where to cut the wood. In my Mk3 I had a clock there, but also had three additional dials in the radio cut-out which are easier for the driver to see.

The step is the seam the chrome strip lies on / in. Last 13/60 I worked on, the body shop welded wings flush to the bonnet top, and then had to cut them off and reweld with a step.

Last time in Curry’s when I went to pay for a toaster the girl behind the till informed me they were 'three for two’… I could only ask why on earth anyone would want three toasters... (To be fair it was across the whole brand and included kettles, electric frying pans and electric irons… but the look she gave me was priceless)

Not wanting to hi-jack the thread but I wish they’d bring out a K&N filter that fitted inside the standard air box… I prefer the look of it to the two huge chrome pancakes (used to have them then removed them again) but the original paper filters can be hard to find… anyone know of any straight fit filters of that size?

I’m a great believer in changing the oil regularly whether the car is used a lot or not. Tescos sell Castrol GTX for £6 per 2 litres - a claimed price of half their usual RRP - so for around £12 plus the price of a filter I get a year’s clean oil around the engine. Check yours the next time you dip the oil and ask yourself if you really want that black gritty stuff floating around the insides of your engine... As Richard says, you can tell the engine is running more quietly after a change and good oil has been used.

Are you sure it’s the alternator that is causing the sparks when you attach the battery terminal, and not something else shorting or left on? However as thescrapman says five terminals points to an odd style of alternator that may not use the same wiring as tyne more common versions fitted to Triumphs. I’d look for a three-terminal version and fit that, just to be sure.

I was looking for a first car for my daughter recently and had a look at the Toyota Aygo plus Citroen / Peugeot versions; I have started to notice after many years of driving the same two cars - Volvo V70 T5 Estate and Landrover Discovery TD5 and so letting other cars’ evolutions and development pass me by - that a lot of new cars are essentially only the same rebadged model. A bit like the old Wolseley / Riley / Triumph / Austin / Morris days… things may not have moved on THAT far!

Not without adding more weight… I don’t think it’s really justified for every day use. Just fill it full of Waxoyl to stop it being eaten away, which admittedly does make it lighter. Stonechip on the leading edges protects quite well.

S’funny but my GT6 ones are quite good, despite having been fitted for years - can’t remember if I did it or not, but they’re little skinny silver ones and seem to clear the rain off sufficiently for me to see out, although a better demister on the front screen would be a big improvement. I have a few bubble-cards of NOS ones so assuming they’re still serviceable after years of garage roofspace storage I’ll use them on my Herald when it gets that far. Landrover ones (Classic Landies) are really skinny little ones but they do an excellent job; ok I know the Landie screen is flat glass but the blade is microscopic and still clears the rain off. Halfords ones lasted a few minutes on my Discovery…. Even a good clean of the rubber blade with windscreen washer fluid works wonders at improving the cleaning power.

Incidentally you can’t dismantle a Delaney on the car as the front cover is screwed right the way round with small self-tappers; you can’t get at the bottom ones while it’s still fitted. Smiths' covers with the large clips may be able to be removed; I’ve never tried it on the car. The Delaney matrix is larger than the Smiths so theoretically should put out more heat; the fan is also a different design. I’m in the middle of rebuilding one and the quantity of dead leaves, twigs and other debris that was inside the box was amazing, so removing that, if nothing else, should aid air flow.

Thora Hird drove a Herald, but it didn’t cause a massive surge in sales.. However: this is a thought-provoking sentence from 1904Vitesse: "I personally believe that each classic has its time when it joins the next level in the world of classic cars and as such all owners should embrace this and price their car accordingly regardless of weather it puts the value out of reach to others." A car is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it, so we can talk figures all day long, but it’s sales that count. Prices of our cars are up as other Marques become too expensive for the lower end of the market. It’s a knock-on effect; if Triumphs become too expensive then prospective owners will move on to something cheaper; we’re left with cars that swallowed huge amounts of money on rebuilds but won’t reach anywhere near that on resale. It’s another boom-and-bust, like we saw back in the 1990s. Cars become more expensive to buy so become more desirable to restore rather than scrap; prices go up, they end up in the hands of speculators and rich collectors and everyday enthusiasts pass them by, so sales slow and prices drop. Even adverts on eBay are reaching funny money; why pay £5- or £6000 for a Herald when you can pay £2000 or less and still get a good one? Incidentally Hugh Robert’s Vitesse was priced over £20000 back in the 1990s when he built it, but it doesn’t mean they were all worth that.

If it kept another car on the road then it was worthwhile… senseless destruction of good cars i.e. banger racing are one thing; breaking an end-of-life car to save others helps us all. Done it myself more than once…